Main Character List for Odyssey:
Odysseus – main character (protagonist). War hero from Trojan war. Upset Poseidon and isn’t
permitted to go home to Ithaca, where he is king.
Penelope – Odysseus’s wife, queen of Ithaca. She’s been w/o him for 20 years (10 during
Trojan War, 10 while he was lost at sea). She’s trying to fight off the suitors and raise their son.
Telemachus – son of Odysseus and Penelope. He was a baby while Odysseus went to fight in
the Trojan War. He doesn’t remember his father, and is almost an full adult now. The suitors
want to marry his mother before he comes of age to inherit the kingdom.
Athena – the Goddess of Wisdom who really likes Odysseus and is trying to help him get back
home… despite the fact that he has angered other gods.
Mentor – a close friend of Odysseus’s family in Ithaca. He is old and highly respected. Athena
takes his form to ‘help and influence’ Telemachus without anyone realizing this.
Suitors – 108 men who hope to marry Penelope and become king of Ithaca (since Odysseus
seems to be dead). They are pressuring Penelope to choose between them, taking over the
house/food… and are jealous of Telemachus who will soon be of age to take over the kingdom
himself.
Antinous – The ‘leader’, or most vocal, of the suitors at Penelope’s house. He has befriended
on of Penelope’s maids who is helping him to keep pressure on Penelope.
Menelaus and Helen – Helen is the one who cheated on her husband, Menelaus, and caused
the Trojan War which took Odysseus from his family to begin with. They are trying to help
Telemachus find his missing father.
Calypso – a nymph (part goddess) who lives on an amazing island in the ocean where Odysseus
washes up. He stays with her for a while and she wants him to stay and become immortal, but
he misses his family and wants to leave ‘paradise’.
Nausicaa – a young princess who, while doing laundry with her friends, finds a sleeping
Odysseus who has washed up on their shore. She brings Odysseus to her father, King Alcinous,
for help.
Aeolus – God of Wind who gives Odysseus a bag of powerful wind to help him get home,
regardless of Poseidon.
Circe – a witch who turns Odysseus’s men into something OTHER than humans…. And they
have to figure a way to escape from her island. She gives them tips on how to get home and
avoid troubles along the way.
Teiresias – a blind seer (fortuneteller/psychic) who resides in the underworld/land of the dead.
Odysseus goes there to have a conversation with him to find out his future.
Sirens – a colony of singing ‘women’ who sing such an enchanting song that it causes men to
wreck boats so that the sirens can feed on them. Odysseus’s ship has to figure out a way to
travel safely through them.
Scylla – a huge monster with six heads who eats sailors. She lives right next to Charybdis –
with only a narrow passage between them.
Charybdis – is a huge whirlpool monster who opens up and spins ships to their doom.
Charybdis lives right next to Scylla, so getting by both of them is a real problem for boats.
Eumaeus – a sheepherder in Ithaca. Athena changes Odysseus’s form into that of a beggar
(like a homeless guy). While in this form Odysseus/beggar sees Eumaeus and visits with him so
he can scope things out anonymously before he reveals himself.
Eurycleia – is Penelope’s maidservant who has been with the family forever. Penelope takes
pity on the old dirty beggar and asks Eurycleia to give him a bath. While doing so, Eurycleia
recognizes a scar on the beggar (da da dummmmm)
Beggar – Athena disguises Odysseus as an old dirty beggar so that he can see if his family wants
him back home or not after all this time.
Laertes – Odysseus’s father